The last couple days have been a total blur... I just got back from Debate Camp in Muskoka (it sounds nerdy but it wasn’t all that bad), a one week stay-over experience. Well, here I go:

About one week ago, Kevin and I both took a three hour-or-so drive up north to RosseauLake, Muskoka. I didn’t get a wink of sleep on the way up but that’s ok... I got to see a lot of those Inuit statue things by the highway whereas Kevin didn’t see anything except the inside of his eyelids. Anyways, I arrived at Debate Camp (which was actually being held on the campus of RosseauLakeCollege, a private boarding school) and was led to my dorm (I say dorm because that’s what the RLC students live in). Kevin and I were both in Clarkson House. There were actually three dorms, these being Clarkson, Brock, and Bricks. Brock held all of the older guys, mostly grade ten and up and Bricks held the older s, again mostly grade ten and up. Clarkson was the only - dorm (teehee) which held guys and s from grade seven to nine. The s were situated on the main floor and the guys were placed in the basement. I got a corner room in the basement, the farthest from the stairs, but that’s ok because that also meant we got one of the largest room in the whole dorm. I picked a bed close to the window and unpacked all of my crap, stuffing my suitcases under my bed. It’s kind of ironic because our room consisted of four beds and three occupants (Kevin, myself and this Korean dude name Duke, heh) and the room beside us consisted of three beds and four occupants ¬_¬. Because of this, they ended up stealing one of our mattresses and taking it to their room. Also in our dorm, there were the two camp directors, Teddy in the basement and Tracey on the main floor, as well as Sasha, the grade twelve lifeguard hired by Nick Shemannis. After all of us unpacked, we headed back to the dining hall for icebreakers and announcements. The dining hall was the main building where we would have all our meals and get announcements and directions for the day. After that the early arrivers took a swim test which was ridiculously easy (all we had to do was swim a distance roughly equivalent to one quarter the length of a swimming pool). The water was surprisingly warm (by lake standards) and I yearned to swim some more, but unfortunately I’d have to wait until the next day. Again, we headed back to our dorms for some free time where a whole bunch of us sat down in the Clarkson common room to watch some good ol’ cable TV. Yeah, there was a decent sized TV with DVD player and surround sound system, although we weren’t actually allowed to watch TV. Later, we got a big surprise when we saw Khalid! We found out that he too had been conned into coming here by his parents. He was in the room next to us, along with Bobby, Colin, and Ali. We also got to know a lot of the other people in our dorm, such as Aiden, Brandon, Sammy, Emma, Alex, Kelly, Sarah, and Duke’s overly annoying sister, Daisy. After free time, we were called back to the dining hall for our first meal. I generally have a low opinion of camp food but the food here was pretty good. We had a Swiss-Chalet-esque chicken dinner for the first night which brightened my evening. Also, they had a cold bar with fruits of all kinds, bread, bagels, lunch meats, cold cuts and soup, for every meal. That’s not even the best part. They had – get this – UNLIMITED FRENCH VANILLA!!! W00T! Yeah, it was pretty sick. They had a French vanilla/English Toffee/Hot Chocolate machine where you could get unlimited drinks anytime you wanted. It was awesome. Unbeknownst to us, where we sat for that first meal would determine our groups for pretty much the rest of the week. Nicola was the counselor that sat at our table. She was pretty cool and so she ended up being our group leader for the week. Throughout the rest of the week I would meet the rest of the counselors; James, Jason, Adrienne, Emma, Alexa and Jo. Immediately after dinner we were given a quick tour of the campus (although I had already toured the place myself), which included three dormitories, a central library/lab complex, computer hut, staff quarters and the waterfront (and a beach volleyball court, except that the ball was badly waterlogged and the sand was as hard as rock). After this all fifty-eight of us campers met on the black tarmac in the center of the campus to make banners for our group. It was here that I realized that it wasn’t only UTS students who learned Latin, but almost all other private school students at some time in their school career.

Our table group, including Nicola decided to make our group the “emo group” *cough*, aptly named “Sadmasemo” (after S&M + emo). So it was that we made our banner into a big shield with a bloody hand, scissors and a picture of a long haired emo dude. Spattered across our banner was an abundance of red paint *cough* and if you looked closely enough you would see subliminal messages like “why am I not dead” and *cough* “the pain is good”. Later we had to present our banner to the rest of the camp and we came up with an emo chant that had the words “pain”, “die” and “scissors” (I think). Some of the other groups came up with names such as Burnbury, Pengu, Eggos, Fort Flemingtonshire, Salt n’ Peppa, and Shamrock House. We were also introduced to the table groups point system, a contest that would span the time of the whole week. The groups were given points based on certain criteria and special events during the week and the banners and presentations would represent our first points. Not surprisingly, we got the least amount of points out of all the groups *ahem* but that’s ok because we came back later in the week. Moving on *cough*, we were returned to our dorms for our first and only night of good sleep (our curfew being at eleven PM, the first night was the only night that we slept when we were supposed to). The days following would follow a loosely set routine which I will now proceed to outline:

8:00 AM : Morning rounds are made by counselors to wake us up, in our case Teddy

8:30 AM : Breakfast

9:30 AM : Announcements, then released to clean up our rooms

We figured out that there was a thing called “inspection” everyday during our first workshop... It’s funny, bribes were encouraged and it was nearly impossible to get a perfect score out of sixty without a bribe. Our bribes included fruits, Chinese cracker munchies, Ritz bits, and money.

9:45 AM : Morning workshop

The workshops would include stuff like debating skills and public speaking. I learned some new stuff like Parliamentary Style, British Parliamentary Style, Cross Examination, and Point-Counterpoint, as well as Persuasive speaking, After Dinner speaking, and Dramatic Monologues.

11:00 AM : Waterfront / Free Time

During free time, we were allowed to do anything we want... you could swim, chill in the common rooms, or maybe play a game of soccer up on the field... This was generally the best part of my day.

12:00 PM : Lunch

1:00 PM : After-lunch activities

These would include things such as Debate Feud, Bend your Head (where groups could earn points) and sometimes show debates.

1:30 PM :Afternoon workshop

3:30 PM : Waterfront / Free Time

6:00 PM: Dinner

7:00 PM : Individual Events

We were given the choice of Persuasive Speech, Drama or After-Dinner speaking.

9:00 PM : Campfire / Evening Activities

We would have a fire by the rocks, by the lake in the evening. This was actually pretty crappy because there were like, fifty people there, no marshmallows and too many mosquitoes. Every night there would be an impromptu speaking contest called “Debate Idol” and some singing.

10:30 PM : Free Time

11:00 PM : Lights out

So there you go. That was how my week went. Of course, it was a lot more interesting than just that. There was a game of "Assassins"... I had to kill Sammy, the uber-gamer but I got seduced by Erin before I got a chance to kill him. I gotta admit, I was kind of disappointed when she led me outside and whispered "you're dead"... I was almost totally convinced she was already dead and was half expecting something else ;). I met so many cool people from different places like Emma from Halifax, Colin from Vancouver and somewhat nearer, Tamar from Thorn Hill. I thought there might be some sort of chemistry between Emma and I, but no. There were a lot of stupid people I met as well, such as this really, really fat guy named Kevin Weiner who just could not shut up (he wound up winning the “Most Likely To Be Heard From The Moon” Award) and also had the biggest of anyone at Debate Camp, and I’m hardly exaggerating. I also met this incredible named Sarah. She was like, the weirdest person I’ve ever met, but not necessarily in a bad way. She’s fifteen, a gamer, bisexual and dating a in university. Yeah it was pretty weird. Then there was Lance this long haired azn dude who was the Sadmasemo mascot, and Ramy, this wicked guy from Lebanon with crazy messed up hair and great music on his iPod mini. Anyways, we played truth or dare on that one night where there was a really bad power outage... we didn’t have any lights except for the emergency ones and I guess that sort of added to the effect. I got to know a lot of people better. On the last night we had a banquet with candles and sparkling white tablecloths, it wasn’t so formal because Emma and Colin kept poking at the flames with their knives. Whatever, we’re still kids. Then there was a “surprise” dance except we all already knew about it so yeah, there were lots of Debate Camp couples (yeah, it’s like the lamest thing I’ve ever heard in my life). Can you believe it, Sammy played Socom: Fire Team Bravo on PSP during the whole dance, heh. The DJing was really bad... in essence just James manning ten-or-so iPods and taking song requests (I don’t think he liked me much because he never played “Ridin’” even though I reminded him twice T_T). But yeah, it was pretty fun, considering I had only known the people for like, a week. It was also weird that the s from the camp acted differently than the ones from UTS... not in a good or bad way... but I’ll refrain from going into detail anyways. Yup... I dare say it was the best part of the week. The next morning we had continental breakfast and then... it was time to say goodbye. I got down lots of email addresses and hope be chatting with them soon. The bus ride back to Pearson was two and a half hours long, but I was sleeping most of the way with Jenifer, Anastacia and Coldplay blaring the whole way. We arrived at the airport where a whole bunch of campers were ushered to their respective terminals... flying off back to where they came from. I had to admire how Colin handled his relationship with Alex (I’d hardly call it a stand... I think there was really something there), it was pretty sad. And then there was us, Duke, Daisy, Kevin, Alex, Sarah, Tim and myself left in the Sheraton hotel lobby. I was happy to finally say good riddance to Daisy... holy f*ck man, she was like killing me the whole week. Then my parents came to pick me up, and it was over. I’d go back next year, for sure, but only to see the people I’d met there. And that was the end.

Looking forward, I’ve got two barbeques coming up... I’m excited to be able to see everyone again... and I’m sort of (?) looking forward to school... and snowboarding. Time to bounce!

Anna Cayne is a mystery. Even to the person who knows the most about her, her boyfriend, the unnamed narrator of this book. She moved into town and began killing people off with her imagination with obituaries that somehow included information that she wasn’t supposed to know. Even her own. When Anna disappears mysteriously, our narrator is sure that she didn’t drown or commit suicide as the police expect. Her disappearances is as surprising to him as it is to everyone else, but nothing is as simple as it seems.

I admit I was drawn in from the beginning, and like the narrator, I was convinced that she was alive somewhere and somehow behind all these clues that keep the story moving. My questions were never really answered, but I was expecting that from the reviews I’d read. Though this is an adult book, it will have great teen appeal, especially to those interested in codes, mystery and psychic phenomenon.

Yeah, this book got me thinking about a lot of things. Things possible, impossible, improbable, or just plain weird. I'd say it's half romance and half mystery; a great combination. I don't think I've read a better book in a long time. I highly suggest borrowing/purchasing this book to read... you will not be able to put it down.

More volleyball today... Jon and I won a beach pairs tournament with a clean sheet; four wins, zero losses. We got some free pop as the prize, heh. Not much else special today.

Here are some more lyrics I really like:

When I was a young boy I was honest and I had more self-control If I was tempted I would run Then, when I got older I began to lie to get exactly what I wanted When I wanted it - And I wanted it Now, I'm having trouble differentiating Between what I want And what I need To make me happy So instead of thinking I just act Before I have the chance to contemplate the Consequence of action

And I will turn off And I will shut down Burying the voices of my conscience hitting ground And I will turn off And I will shut down The chemicals are restless in my head

'Cuz I liedNot because I want to But I seem to need to All the time Yeah, I lie And I don't even know it Maybe this is All a part of my flawed design

And ever since I figured out That I could control other people I've had trouble sleeping With both eyes closed And if I asked permission If I make sure it's ok I promise I won't slip up this time You can trust me But never take advice from someone Who just admitted to being devious Who just confessed to treason And I would also never ask a question That I cannot ask myself For it might Dirty up your conscience

'Cuz I liedNot because I want to But I seem to need to All the time Yeah, I lie And I don't even know it Maybe this is All a part of my -

And how can you say those things Why can't you just believe? And how can you say those things And keep a straight face? And how can you say those things Why can't we just believe? And how can you say those things And keep a straight face?

And I will turn off And I will shut down Burying the voices of my conscience hitting ground And I will turn off And I will shut down The chemicals are restless in my head

'Cuz I liedNot because I want to But I seem to need to All the time Yeah, I lie And I don't even know it Maybe this is All a part of my - 'Cuz I lie And if I could control it Maybe I could leave it all behind Yeah, I lie And I don't even know it Maybe this is all a part of my Flawed design

Last couple days have been pretty hectic. I'm finally back from that one week trip to Cape Cod. It was great; lots of great entertainment and cheap seafood. I didn't get to journal because of the cheapass motels without high-speed internet -_-.That was on the eighth of July. It's real bittersweet; we visited Kingston... where Queens University is located. Season is going to be going to school there so... I guess it's the last family vacation... at least for a long time. I think she's taking a course called Arts and Sciences... Gah! The whole university process is so complicated... the lottery system that decided where you're going to live, the meal plans, the flex dollars, the two (plus one in england) campuses, the buses and shuttles, and class schedules and the finances... It's pretty stressful. The city is good though; Kingston is said to have the highest number of restaurants pre square kilometre. Heh, my sister's friend says that she went to a different restaurant every time she went out (she's in her third year of university) and she's still going!!! Oliver says there's not much to do there in terms of entertainment, besides clubbing (my sister's not the wild partying type anyways) . She's already made a bunch of friends; my sister's good at that kind of thing. And get this; her best friend from Woodlands is going to Queens too! Gee, what are the chances. Good for her though =P. I hope I don't get pulled ot of UTS because of money issues. That would suck. At least she says she's going to get a job. It would be really crappy of her to just go to University and not even bother with paying. Well, she's pretty excited about next year. So am I, and I'm happy for her.

Yesterday I watched the final match of the Fifa World Cup 2006. It was the best match that I have seen since the start of the tournament. Both sides had lots of shots on goals and there were lots of hilarious slow-motion tackles that I always watch out for =P. I was a bit appalled at Zidane's retarded-ness when he got himself sent of for head-butting one of Italian's players (the one who caused him the shoulder injury). Although he shouldn't have been such a dumbass, it didn't look like the impact from the blow would have been enough to knock down the Italian, heh. Then Italy won on penalties (I had a hunch that they would win from the beginning but I didn't think it would be the result of a penalty shootout), and that brings us to the end of another World Cup season.

Last night out our whole family (minus Season) headed over to Kevin's house (our parents are good friends T_T) to have dinner. We ended up whacking a volleyball around and playing "Bubble Trouble" on his computer. I also realized that I had eaten frog's leg thinking that they were chicken legs. So I guess it's true; frog actually tastes like chicken!

Today I was forced to wake up early; today was my first day of the Pakmen Volleyball Program that I enrolled in. I had to arrive at David Leeder Secondary at 9:00AM where I would take a half-hour shuttle to Beach Blast. When we arrived we found an incredible beach volleyball facility with seven indoor beach courts and seven more outdoors (although we weren't able to use them due to the crappy weather). I stumbled upon some of my friends also attending the same program; Philip from a previous volleyball program, Jon from church, and Olivia from my grade three class (yeah, it's been almost six years now). Beach volleyball is a lot more fun (and arguably harder) to play than conventional indoor volleyball. Instead of the six players usually on one side, you have only one or three other players on your team giving you alot more ground to cover. The sand makes up for that though, allowing you to dive for the ball which would usually leave you with a badly skinned knee on a regular gym floor. Jon and I successfully benched Warner (oh gee, it was priceless; just like in the movies... he tried to take a step back but instead tripped and fell over Jon) but failed to trip Philip. Then he "single-teamed" us by tripping us each, on his own. Lot's of laughs when we "accidentally" stepped on this girl's sand castle, heh.

Also, Janice and Samik both started LJ. They should be on my friend's page but Janice hasn't written an entry yet T_T.

Today I think I overused my mp3 player. I listened to "Champagne Supernova", "Only One" and "Passion" about fifteen times each, I think T_T. I woke up in time to see an old black and white war film and then we were off to Boston Proper. It turns out that Boston is a truly confusing city. The streets are totally screwed. They aren't organized in neat city blocks like good 'ol TO, but rather are laid out in a spiderweb fashion with roads going in all directions above ground, underground and under water. So... we spent the morning driving around for one and a half hours looking for place to eat. Then we sat down to eat some lunch at a supermarket that is run entirely on wind power -_-. After that we visited the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University. While we were walking around we stopped at the "Harvard Book Store" where I got absorbed into a book titled "Skinny Dip" by Carl Heiss. I wanted to purchase it but it was too pricey for my liking (And it's not a porno -_-. It's about this marine biologist who gets drunk and then thrown overboard by her husband, and subsequently plots revenge). Personally, I don't like Boston. It's a nightmare for tourists and you have to pay one dollar to get into the city (plus one dollar twenty cents if you're coming from Framingham). Later on we went to Boston's Chinatown and sat down at a Chinese Restaurant where we got two lobsters for ten dollars (!!!). At the end of the day we took the Massachusetts Turnpike back to Framingham and here I am on my dad's laptop, listening to Spanish commentators grunting about the semifinal (?) game (Germany VS Italy) of the FIFA world cup.. My sister was a lot more reasonable tonight. Oh yeah, and we went for a swim in the Best Western swimming pool where this black couple was laughing at me for no reason. And now my sister's bugging me to get off. I'm going to go see the end of the game, you should too =P.

Today I woke up late and realized that it was time to leave for Boston... eh, I never liked road trips. We packed up all our stuffs and then left. It so happens that it takes about nine hours to get to our stupid hotel. So that's what we did. For the whole of today, we drove, and drove, and drove. It was incredibly boring but flying wouldn't have been much better anyways. We drove across the Peace Bridge and continued West along Highway ninety, in crossing New York. That part took us almost seven hours, not counting the almost 2 hours we wasted stopping at those service stations that appeared along the highway every ten miles or so. Then we passed Albany near Cape Cod and continued to Framingham where we arrived at the Best Western where I am typing on my dad's laptop. And now I am hearing strains of the Titanic theme on the TV five feet away from me. My sister has to use the computer soon so... I guess I'll go watch Jack freeze to death in front of his sweetheart -_-.

ryan

oh yeah... happy Independance Day (I think) to all you Americans out there =D

Baseball is a pretty boring sport to watch... But it's ok if you go with a bunch of your friends. Last night Kevin, Matthew and I went to a baseball game at the Rogers Centre; The Jays vs. The Phillies. It was pretty interesting. My dad and Kevin's dad came along as well but they sat far from us (heh, good thing). We found our seats on the second level, almost directly behind home plate giving us a spectacular view of the action. There was this bitchy lady near the entrance that keep reminding me not to sneak under the guardrail. Heh, she caught me trying to get under but then I turned the other way and pretended I hadn't seen her. Ten minutes she comes along and says "Hey remember you can't go under there". I'm just like "f*ck you bitch". And then the guy behind me he's like "LOL that was a delayed reaction, you went under there like ten minutes ago". Heh, stupid lady. But she left later so then it was all good. Before the game started we all went to the concession stands and got our munchies for the game. Subsequently, we found ourselves going again and again to buy more goodies; the total purchases amount to this: two cotton candies, three drinks, four ice cream cones, two nachos-and-cheese and one bag of twizzlers (strawberry flavour). This amounted to about ten dollars per person, close to thirty dollars in total.

To tell you the truth, the game itself wasn't the greatest. The Jays scored four points each in the first two innings, then it was zero-zero from then on until the eigth inning, I think. Aside from the game, the only thing that was interesting in the least was the profiles of the baseball players. Heh, it turns out that all of the baseball players had their pictures taken while they were drunk (Lyle Overbay you loser). The bunch of people behind us kept talking about beer and this girl, Reneé kept saying "Hey, can you go get me a Stella?". Then there was this Italian guy a couple rows up from us and he kept shouting random shit like "We want you Sal!" and "Haha look at that fatty run", it was the greatest. The game ended with this amazing diving catch by some Jay outfielder; it was so matrix-like. Then it was back home and now I'm bored.

My sister was in a crappy mood today, good thing she's leaving for university. Good f*cking riddance... I have violin practice in half an hour T_T. Then I got lots of packing to do; I'm leaving on a week-long trip to Boston tomorrow.

More lyrics:

Four A.M. two hours to goI'm wearing out a lonely glow.I miss you more than I could know.Here I am, here I am,won't you get me?

I've got my hands at redemption's sideWhose scars are bigger than these doubts of mine.I'll fit all of these monstrosities insideand I'll come alive.

With my fist down at your feet I was running out of mysteries Insecure and incomplete, here I am, here I am, won't you get me?

Hmm. The past couple days have been pretty uneventful... Howard was supposed to come to my house on Monday but he said that he couldn't "find" his bike (yeah, sure I'm gunna believe that, good one Howard). That's ok. I'm sorry to admit it but I've fallen to the tempatation of RPGs, OMG! I started Xenosaga Episode One, an RPG by Capcom (=o, the horror!). Hmm, it's pretty fun, but the battle system is nothing like previous games I've played (lol Ellen and Final Fantasy -> It's so different); it took a while to get used to but it's pretty engaging (yo Amina you have to check this out).

Heh, moving on ¬_¬. And OMG I almost forgot; I'm so sad because sadly, my late night blog sessions have come to an end. My sister ratted me out and told my mom that I was using her laptop at night T_T. Oh well, it's not all bad, at least I won't be losing anymore sperm =P.

On Tuesday I was dragged away from the TV when my mom decided to take me along with her to run some errands which included: 1) Doing my sister's eyebrows, 2) Doing my sister's hair, and 3) Getting my sisters flowers. You can probably guess why she needs all this shyt; it's prom season! So yeah, my sister spent over $100 (I think) doing all this stuff to her face and getting souped up for her Prom, which was last night. After her party she went to some after-party and got a total of 1 hour of sleep. Oh and uh... I got $16 in my pocket for toiling for 2 hours removing weeds from the driveway (Hoorah for mothers who pay their kids) and I spent some of it on a delicious chocolate fudge sunday with peanuts (...ahhh heaven).

Today I woke up at 11:00AM and didn't bother to fix my hair which is always flat on one side when I wake up. I proceeded downstairs to start my daily Xeno-session and then suddenly (o_0) my dad walked in for lunch bringing with him some KFC. My dad started going nuts over the incredible "value" of the KFC Snacker which is essentially a smaller version of their classic chicken sandwich. After that Kevin's mom called and suggested going to the Mississauga Fitness Institute in the afternoon. So it was, we headed there at about 7:30PM and messed around in the fitness room; lots of treadmills, stationary bikes, fitness machines and dumbbells. Later we went swimming and then headed for the sauna, except it was too hot... so... we had to settle for an awkward moment in the "Eucalyptus Room" which reminded me of Brokeback change room ¬_¬. Then I headed back home after watching part of "The Science of Superman" in the mens changeroom. Yes, the mens change room has a 50" LCD TV with couches and comfy chairs, just like the S6 commons =D! Well, I guess that's all. Except for the upcoming baseball game on the 30th; I hope we get box seats =P.

Well, you might find it weird that I'm posting twice in a day, but that's only because I slept at 4:30 last night so... yeah. Otherwise I'd have to wait another what, 24 hours before posting again... or something? Sorry, my math's not so good. So anyways, I was mostly dicking around last night doing nothing and talking to Nathalie. Heh, it's great; she's the only person who would be on at 4:30. Or maybe everyone's just on vacation. Oh, and I convinced her to start journaling too =D -> www.dawnthroughdusk.livejournal.com. I would tell you to check my friends page but there's nothing there as of late.

I woke up at 11:00 today. That's weird because I usually wake up at 8:00 but I guess it comes with sleeping late. I missed lunch (even though I was at home, somehow) and was going to eat some hor fun but then it was nasty so I settled on "hot beef flavor" cup noodles. It's sooo good but it's all msg you know. I think I'm going to make some tea or coffee, otherwise I'm going to crash at 4:00 T_T.

So... I have nothing to look forward to today, except for fellowship which in reality I am NOT looking forward to because of this bullshit haircut. And I really need my toque back mom. Oh well, I think I'll just sneak to Tim's with Chris and Matt. OH WTF you guys stole my Ice Cap, but I guess that was my fault, my mom was like "WTF ryan where are you!?" So I was like halfway between church at Tim's so I was like "uhhh... outside? >_<" Then I had to run the rest of the way back and I ended up collapsing in the car. That was 2 weeks ago. Well, I don't have much else to say except that it'd be much better if everyone from UTS had LJ, except I don't want to go telling everyone because then it'd become another Xanga, which as I said was bullshit. I got caught up in it too, for a while with links to "Google" and "Addicttinggames" on my site. Then my html screwed up because I had tried to make this custom layout work but then it didn't ='(, so then I was just like T_T, and I stopped. Plus, all my friends had music tracks looping on their sites and I couldn't stand it. I think I'm done for now. Time to find my hat =P